From The Straits Times    |

From left: iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X

So, this happened when we were all asleep. 

Apple has launched the iPhone X (pronounced as iPhone 10) to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the culture-changing smartphone during a special event held at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park – Apple’s new headquarters. 

This premium model – iPhone X – features a Super Retina display that covers almost the entire front of the smartphone, which has been the trend for many of this year’s flagship smartphones like Samsung Galaxy Note8 and LG V30. 

ALSO READ: 8 BUSY WOMAN TIPS TO PREVENT YOUR SMARTPHONE FROM ‘DYING’ ON YOU

 

 

The Super Retina display uses OLED technology that is are known to exhibit colours more accurately and vividly as well as being more power efficient.

But with the near-full display, the Home Button or Touch ID is gone. Instead, a front-facing system of cameras and sensors – infrared camera, flood illuminator, front camera, dot projector, ambient light sensor and microphone – called TrueDepth camera system support the new Face ID, or 3-D face recognition technology. 

Users just look at the phone to unlock the iPhone X. Apple said it will recognise users’ face even in the dark, or change of hair styles and facial hair.

ALSO READ: HOW TO GET A ‘FREE’ IPHONE FROM YOUR SINGAPORE TELCO SERVICE PROVIDER

 

 

Bucking the trend of an aluminium unibody chassis that many previous iPhones use, the iPhone X has a stainless steel chassis with curved glass back instead. As such, the iPhone X has an almost all-glass exterior.

In addition, the iPhone X features a rear dual-camera system that places the two cameras in a vertical orientation rather than the previous horizontal orientation. It uses a quad-LED flash system for more uniform lighting. 

The iPhone X will feature the new A11 Bionic six-core processor that has two cores for intensive processing needs and four high-efficiency cores. In addition, the iPhone X supports wireless charging.

ALSO READ: REVIEW: I’M NOT A FITNESS JUNKIE, BUT I’D STILL BUY THE APPLE WATCH SERIES 2

Photo: Apple

Apple’s iPhone X will be available on November 3, 2017 in Singapore, with prices starting from $1,648 (64GB, without contract) to $1,888 (256GB, without contract). Pre-orders start from October 27, 2017. 

At the same time, Apple has taken away the “S” moniker for so many of its previous “second-generation” models of the same design. Instead of iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus, the direct successors will be known as iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus respectively. 

Both models retain the design ethos of its respective predecessors but now come with a glass back. The iPhone 8 Plus continues to feature a rear dual-camera system, while the iPhone 8 has a single rear camera.

Photo: Apple

But both iPhone 8 models were updated with the faster A11 Bionic processor and their 12-megapixel cameras are said to be faster in terms of focusing speed and better pictures. Both models also support wireless charging. 

The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus will be available on September 22, 2017, with prices starting from $1,148 (64GB, without contract) for iPhone 8 and from $1,308 (64GB, without contract) for iPhone 8 Plus. Pre-orders start from September 15, 2017. 

This story first appeared on The Straits Times.

ALSO READ: PHONEY TRUTHS: WHAT YOU SHOULD AND SHOULDN’T DO WHEN YOUR PHONE GETS WET